TONIGHT’S GAME:The Rangers will face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.), in an Atlantic Division matchup. The Blueshirts currently rank third in the Atlantic Division standings, and sixth in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 12-5-3 (27 pts). The Rangers enter the contest having defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0, on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, to extend their home winning streak to six games. New York has now won their last two games, having completed a sweep of their back-to-back set against Washington and Philadelphia. The Penguins enter the contest with a 14-6-4 (32 pts) record to rank first in the Eastern Conference, and have lost five of their last seven games on the road (2-4-1). Following the contest, the Rangers will face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, Dec. 1, at RBC Center (7:00 p.m.), to begin a two-game Southeast road trip.

·2011-12: Tonight is the first of six meetings this season, and the first of three at Madison Square Garden.

·Last Season: New York was 4-1-1 overall, with a 1-1-1 mark at home. The Rangers power play was 7-22 (31.8%) in the season series, while the penalty kill was 20-22 (90.9%). New York out-scored Pittsburgh, 21-15, including a 10-4 margin in the third period and overtime. Ryan Callahan led the Rangers with five goals, nine points, four power play goals and three game-winning goals in six games, while Brandon Dubinsky tallied a team-high, six assists in the season series. Henrik Lundqvist was 4-1-1 with a 2.29 GAA and .926 Sv%.

·The Rangers have registered at least one point in seven of their last eight meetings with Pittsburgh, posting a record of 5-1-2 over the span

·New York has won their last two games against Pittsburgh, having out-scored the Penguins, 10-5, in those contests

·New York ranks 15th with a 6-1-1 (13 pts) record at home; Pittsburgh ranks 10th with a 6-5-2 (14 pts) mark on the road

·The Rangers have posted a 2-1-0 record vs. Atlantic Division opponents; the Penguins are 4-0-0 vs. the Atlantic Division

·Henrik Lundqvist has posted a 20-13-5 record with a 2.41 GAA and two shutouts in 38 career regular season games vs. Pittsburgh; Martin Biron is 13-15-3-2 with a 2.98 GAA and two shutouts in 33 career regular season games vs. the Penguins

·Brad Richards leads the Rangers with 22 assists and 28 points in 27 career regular season games vs. Pittsburgh; Marian Gaborik has tallied eight goals and 17 points in 18 career regular season games vs. the Penguins

·Pittsburgh lists one former Ranger on their roster: Pascal Dupuis (2006-07)

SPECIAL TEAMS:
·Power Play: The Rangers tallied one goal in two power play opportunities (3:57) on Saturday vs. Philadelphia, and are 2-7 (28.6%) in their last two games. New York ranks 23rd overall (11-81, 13.6%) and 11th at home (7-36, 19.4%). The Rangers are 1-7 (5:25) in five-on-three situations (last – 11/23 at FLA), and 0-4 (3:46) when four-on-three (last – 11/3 vs. ANA). Shorthanded goals allowed (0).

·Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts held the Flyers scoreless in two shorthanded situations (4:00) on Saturday at MSG. New York ranks 10th overall (69-81, 85.2%) and third at home (21-23, 91.3%). The Rangers are 2-3 (1:16) in three-on-five situations (last – 11/05 vs. MTL), and 0-1 (1:17) when three-on-four (last – 10/7 at LAK). Shorthanded goals for (1): 10/20 at CGY (Prust).

·Four-on-Four: New York did not tally/yield a goal in two four-on-four situations (4:00) on Saturday vs. Philadelphia. The Rangers are plus-three in 28 four-on-four situations (49:13), and even in one three-on-three situation (0:01). Four-on-four goals for (3): 10/18 at VAN (Gaborik); 10/20 at CGY (McDonagh); 10/27 vs. TOR (Girardi). Four-on-four goals allowed (0).

BACK-TO-BACKSThe Rangers are scheduled to play 14 back-to-back sets this season. New York has posted a record of 2-0-1 (1-0-0 at home, 1-0-1 on the road) in the first game of the set, and are 2-0-1 (2-0-0 at home, 0-0-1 on the road) in the second game. Since 2009-10, New York is 23-8-3 in the back-end of back-to-back sets, including an 11-3-1 mark at MSG and 12-5-2 on the road over the span. Henrik Lundqvist has started on consecutive days 56 times in his career, posting a record of 35-14-7 with a 1.82 GAA, .935 Sv% and six shutouts in the second game. The Rangers fourth back-to-back set will be on Dec. 22-23 vs. the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, with both games at Madison Square Garden.

PERFECT IN PITTSBURGHThe Rangers completed last season’s series against Pittsburgh with a 3-0-0 record at CONSOL Energy Center, having out-scored the Penguins, 12-5, in those games. It was the first time the Blueshirts swept the season series in Pittsburgh since 1996-97 (2-0-0), and the first time since 1973-74 that a Rangers team won three games at Pittsburgh in the same season (3-0-0). New York has won each of their last four games in Pittsburgh, dating back to a 3-2 overtime win on Feb. 12, 2010.

HOME SWEET HOMEThe Rangers enter tonight’s contest with a six-game home winning streak, dating back to Oct. 31 vs. San Jose. New York has out-scored their opponents, 22-7, during the streak, having held the opposition to one goal or less in four of the six games. The Blueshirts’ power play is 5-29 (17.2%) over the span, while their penalty kill is 14-15 (93.3%). The Rangers’ 6-1-1 start through eight games at Madison Square Garden is their best start at home since they posted a record of 6-1-1 through eight home games to begin the 1992-93 season. New York began that season with a 7-1-1 mark through nine games at MSG.

THE PUCK STOPS HEREThe Blueshirts lead the league in fewest total goals against, allowing 41 goals through 20 games, and rank second with a 2.05 GAA. Henrik Lundqvist has posted a record of 9-4-3 with a 2.05 GAA, .935 Sv% and two shutouts, while Martin Biron is 3-1-0 with a 1.68 GAA, .937 Sv% and one shutout. Rangers goaltenders have combined for a league-best, .934 Sv%. Lundqvist ranks fifth in the NHL in Sv%, ninth in GAA and is tied for sixth in shutouts.

IN THE BLACKThe Blueshirts rank third in the NHL with a plus-15 rating while skating at even strength. 23 of the 27 players who have skated for the Rangers this season have posted a plus or even rating. Ryan McDonagh leads the team and is tied for 11th in the NHL with a plus-12 rating. In the league standings, New York ranks fifth with a plus-13 goal differential.

FIRST STRIKEThe Rangers have tallied the game’s first goal in 12 of their 20 contests this season, posting a record of 11-1-0 in those games. Their .917 winning percentage when scoring first ranks second in the NHL, while their 11 wins are tied for first in the league.

NEW FACESNew York has seen nine new faces in their lineup during the 2011-12 season – Tim Erixon* (10/7 at LAK), Brad Richards (10/7 at LAK, one assist), Mike Rupp (10/7 at LAK), Jeff Woywitka (10/15 at NYI), Brendan Bell (10/22 at EDM), Andre Deveaux (10/31 vs. SJS), Anton Stralman (11/23 at FLA), Carl Hagelin* (11/25 at WSH, one assist), John Mitchell (11/25 at WSH, one assist). *NHL debut

COUNTDOWN TO 2,500 WINSThe Rangers are currently four wins shy of 2,500 wins, having won 2,496 games all-time in franchise history.

QUICK HITS:

·The Rangers have the fewest regulation losses (five) in the NHL

·New York is 4-1-0 when leading after the first period, and 7-0-1 when leading after the second

·The Blueshirts are the only team in the NHL who are undefeated when out-shooting their opponents, posting a 6-0-0 mark in those contests

·The Rangers are 7-0-0 all-time in games when Brandon Prust is assessed a fighting major in the opening two minutes

·Rookie Carl Hagelin notched his first career goal on Saturday vs. Philadelphia, and has now recorded two points (one goal, one assist) in two career games

·Henrik Lundqvist is 7-1-0 with a 1.74 GAA, .942 Sv% and one shutout during the month of November

I’ll tell you right now I don’t think I can even watch this game, or if I do I’ll watch it with the sound off. I cannot take the constant A@# kissing this kid gets from everyone in the league. That on top of his Snidely Whiplash mustache and it’s enough to make a guy puke..

The Rangers had better come to play tonight and it won’t be pretty. I’ve seen a couple of the Penguin games lately and unfortunately, they are flying. All of Cindney, Slewfoot, Oprick, Neal and Letang, not to mention Fleury, appear to be on top of their games.

And watch out for Slewfoot – he was dirty/nasty against the Canadiens Saturday night…

I dont expect the Crosby ‘tache to survive the evening, if it all goes to plan a combination of Dan Girardi breathing all over him or a bit of rubbing against Avery’s “sandpaper” and that poor excuse for facial hair will disappear.

i just hope he comes back fully healed. weve been doing fine without him, and injuries like this open doors for othe players to shine, as weve seen already. but i hope he is here by playoff time. we will really need him back for girardis sake. he will be shot by then if not sooner. we cant have eminger and woywitka as our 3rd pair even if they play 5-6 minutes. with stauwl back one of them is gone. maybe erixon will be here too by then.

ilb2001 – I didn’t know the NY Post was into handing out Crosby stroke-jobs too. Wow, what a pathetic article. I won’t get on Bontemps for his ridiculous run-on sentences, but his lovefest for Crosby? Ridiculous. Especially when there’s a perfectly good set of questions to ask him. Namely, why he thinks it’s OK to nail a guy in the head with an elbow just three games after coming back from his own head injury.

Look for Dubinsky to take on Sid. Prediction is fuzzy right now, but I’ll say 2-1 Rangers. Crosby cries twice, an all-time low for him in a game. Statisticians are baffled.

I am not upset with Cindy over elbowing someone in the head during a scrum. That was the 4th time his goalie had been run and he was just defending his goalie. I actually give him credit for being tough rather than skating away and letting his teammates handle it. Crosby had also been punched in the head during a scrum a game earlier.

I hate all this “let’s take Sid out” talk. You think in Pittsburgh they are saying, “I hope we run over Hank and hurt him.” It’s very easy to say “I hope Dubi injures Sid tonight” the same way in Pittsburgh Arron Asham could easily do it to Gaborik. Then, we’d all be screaming mad. Careful what you wish for. I hope they play physical on him all game and not allow him room to dance like he did vs. NYI and Ott.

I agree with HWirth yet again. I don’t like the “let’s hurt the guy” talk. I would rather win honorably with our top D-Pair shutting down Sidney and frustrating him. Not hurting him on purpose. That’s a cheap way to win and not what Torts would say this team is all about.

I’d be more concerned tonight on how our D is going to lineup against their 3 top lines. It’s easy to say line Girardi and McDonagh up on Crosby and if they break up Malkin and Staal to lines 2 and 3, not liking Sauer and Del Zotto vs. Malkin and Eminger and Woywitka vs. Staal matchups. Look for Girardi to play a crazy amount of minutes tonight and no Stupid Penalties. Their PP is lethal again.

Hwirth/Manny – Who’s talking about hurting Cindy? I just want to see him take what he dishes out, because he never does. If you watch that Foligno clip, Crosby crosschecks him twice. Very hard too. Then when that doesn’t get him off the back stoop, he elbows him in the face. Hard. Watch him closely. He’ll cross-check guys on the faceoff if he’s lining up at the wing. He’s a dirtbag, plain and simple. I don’t want to see him injured, but I’d love to see him pounded Prust-style.

And by the way, the Pens are notorious for crashing the net. They will run Hank. Mark my words. The only team dirtier than the Pens is Philly. Man, I never thought I’d see the day when I come onto a Ranger fan site and people are defending Crosby. Cats and dogs. Living together.

Matty, because we is hockey fans and Crosby is the best talent. We want that talent in the league as fans, and, unlike you, we ain’t afraid to match our superstars like Ryan Nugent McDonagh vs. Sid the Crybaby. Yes, we shall mock Cindy, but it will be much more enjoyable defeating them with the CryBaby in the lineup. Stop being so scared of playing against the elite.

bob – i think its not as cut and dried, dont forget Staal’s recovery was probably hampered by not being diagnosed immediately and him playing numerous more games after the hit, if he’d been shut down the week after the initial hit, we may have had him back inside 6 months, who knows – not even the experts know, they just monitor and follow the ease them back in gently plan. I dont think we’ll see Staal till Feb.

It has nothing to do with defending Crosby. Heck, I love that Bryan Murray called him out the other day. I reposted his comments here. It IS about not being hypocritical. I’m not advocating this idea of have Prust challenge Crosby to a fight or something stupid like that when we all went crazy when Carcillo did it to Gabby. I hope Girardi shoulders him into the boards every time he has the puck. But I am going to treat him like every other opponent.

I’m sorry but I am not going to act like these phony Montreal Canadiens, their fans and even their press whining today because Pacioretty got three games when they wanted Chara arrested last March for hitting him. Like I always say about the No Hit League: GM’s, the teams are ONLY interested in THEIR OWN players safety.

I just hope they come out and play smart. No napping after an emotional win Saturday. I hope Girardi got a good night of sleep last night because he’s in for a long game. This is going to be a tough one. They need to find a way to set the tone early in this one and not get pinned in their zone all night. As far as Crosby is concerned – play him hard shut him down just like you would attempt to do with any other player in the league. Let Avery shadow him lol

Brooks saying Rangers have contacted Anaheim about Bobby Ryan. And he’s saying Step-on and McDonut are among those off-limits….. Personally i dont think Id have Stepan on off-limits in a trade for Ryan. And you all know how much I like Stepan. To get something special you need to give up something special…

I’m sure the Pen()s love opposing teams having the mental obstacle of not wanting to be the ones to hurt Crosby -even if it’s a clean check.
They love that teams may let up a little bit. Love that they may second guess or hesitate. Think for that split second while they should be acting. Love that teams will take the gentle approach.
Love that he’ll be treated with ‘kid’ gloves. And they Love that Cindy will be exploiting it all the way.

Scenario for you. You buy a ’69 Camaro SS with a sweet 350ci engine. It is customized, it’s better than what you could have hoped for when you bought the car. And you’re both relieved and happy because you didn’t know what you were going to do for an engine and there really werent any good options but now you have this motor and really don’t know it’s potential. But you need a high performance transmission to suit the car before you get it on the road. You find a guy who has exactly what you’re looking but he wants you to trade him the engine for the transmission..Does it make sense to do the swap?

That’s how I look at Stepan when it comes to finding a top LW. And the fact that Stepan has chemistry with the most important forward on the team shouldn’t be overlooked. You guys remember chemistry- it’s that thing we debated and worried about all summer in regards to Richards and Gabby

While I really don’t see this trade happening. It’s going to take at least 1 1st round pick, one of Del Zotto, Sauer or Erixon, one of the young forwards Kreider, Hagelin or Thomas and probably a legit roster player Dubinsky. We’d probably get back a 2nd rounder or something with Ryan cause GM’s usually don’t like 4 for 1’s and such.

And that’s if Bob Myurray is stupid and crazy enough to blow it up and go younger.

czechthemout!!!! – they’d laugh at that offer, IMO. But who knows? Stranger things have happened. I think the Rangers would do that deal quicker than a New York minute. Ryan would replace AA. MZA is gone after this year anyway, as is Wolski. And MDZ is expendable with Erixon in the system. Again, I really doubt that offer would get much more than a smirk. Maybe a scoff or two.

We already have two very very good RW. Now if you move Ryan to LW, that would make some sense and I’m sure the Rangers have the prospects to pull it off. I certainly would not trade Stepan, McDonagh or Krieder though.

Does Anisimov/Dubinsky, Del Zotto/Erixon, Christian Thomas and Zuccarello get it done?

Listen, all I’m saying is that I’m 100% ok with giving up a lot for a guy like Ryan. Anyone looking for a star like that is going to overpay. But it’s idiotic to just hand over everything blindly and hope he works out here. Give them the first round pick. Hell give them the 2nd round pick too. Take 2 roster players and two prospects with promise. That’s more than fair imo. I mean listen, if you had a chance to acquire Ovechkin would you say “oh well offer the Caps Stepan, McD, Sauer, Staal, Kreider, Gaborik and Thomas plus our first rounder”

“My favorite team growing up was the Philadelphia Flyers, being a Jersey boy from across the river gave me access to a lot of games. My first favorite player was Pelle Eklund. I always wore 16 because of Bobby Clarke, but eventually switched to number 9 because of Mike Modano”

YOu know that you keep throwing players names to trade for and from, but why so hot for a trade when no matter what happens, it’s the system at fault.?They still don’t attack a zone like the most successful teams do,
they still have their players wedded to the dump and chase philosophy
( which in order to succeed with you have to have violently aggressive forecheckers with great speed who are not beaten to the puck……which simply doesn’t happen. …..oh now and then a guy makes it in there and collects to set up, but then comes the pass patty cake routine, which allows the defenders time to react against you.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole Ryan trade is an attempt by Murray via media to light a fire under their MZAs…But if the Rangers are kicking tires on him, Stepan and McDonagh off limits sounds just about right.

they are not trading aa, dubi, a firstround pick , and a top 4 d man for ryan…..

that is too much. anaheim has a crappy d and 1 line only. they are going to be bad for a while.bouchemin, lydmun are not young, and there forwards are not greeat besides the big three and the senior citizen Selanne.

you cannot win with only 1 line… i rather have 3 b lines then 1 A + line….

ryan is a very good player but let’s be real.

i trade something like this; a first rounder, erixon or sauer, dubi, and a minor league forward such as hagelin…anaheim gets a starting d man who is young, a forward dubi who is 26, a first rounder and another forward who can play in the nhl now with upsaide..MZA as a thrown in also if they want him….

trading 4 big club players today and others does not help the rangers unless the big club players are ec and wolski and of course anaheim would not want them.

This is exactly what I was hoping for; the more we can keep the current roster intact, the better. If you (1) recognize we’ve built up a nice group of prospects and (2) still assume half of them will flame out because that’s what prospects do, this is exactly the sort of deal you jump at. Maybe we aren’t just one player away, but we’re alot closer to one player away than we’ve been in a long time.

(And really, building the ’94 Cup roster was about as bad as it gets in terms of seeing traded prospects pan out with Amonte and Weight. And those guys brought a much lesser return than Ryan, universal Tikkanen love aside. It comes down to the risk of a prospect panning out and surpassing Ryan’s production, or two panning out and each turning into 75% of Ryan. Still a risk worth taking.)

yeah, haven’t been to any games yet… was supposed to go on the 8th against Tampa but a friend of mine (who is kind enough to never charge me for $64 er, $125 ticket now) decided to take a date to the game instead of me! bastage! but i dont blame him…even though we are very good friends, at the end of the game i cannot offer him anything close to what his date can. so… i lose.

Doodie, it’s a measure of shot attempts (even the ones that go wide), it’s primarily used as a proxy for puck possession under the premise that you need to possess the puck to attempt a shot. As an isolated stat it leaves a lot out but taking into context the quality of competition and quality of your line mates it helps paint a picture of which players drive play more than others.

One thing that Corsi does downplay is the effect of special teams, particlarly the PK.

Just a note about Nick Evans who filled in at 1st base for Mets and has played multiple roles well, but whom I always thought was handled disgracefully and languished in their farm system while lesser players were kept aboard. He hit well and he played just about every position called upon. I wish him well now with the Pirates.